"Harry Potter" stars felt pressure to "ace" kiss

Michelle Nichols

3 Min Read

NEW YORK (Reuters) - “Harry Potter” stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint felt the pressure of millions of fans of the boy wizard series when they recently filmed a highly anticipated kiss between their characters Hermione and Ron.

<p>British actress Emma Watson arrives for the world premiere of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" at Leicester Square in London July 7, 2009. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor</p>

The kiss happens in the seventh and final book in author J.K. Rowling’s series and Watson told a news conference on Thursday -- promoting the sixth film “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” -- that the scene was filmed two weeks ago.

“Rupert and I were quite nervous that it might look ingenuous as we were so desperate to get it over with,” Watson, 19, said. “Rupert and I felt the pressure of this kiss, there’s so much interest.”

“This is 10 years worth of tension and hormones and chemistry and everything in one moment. We had to ace it,” said Watson. “Kissing is awkward, kissing is always awkward.”

The final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” is being split into two films and it remains unknown which of the final two movies contains the kiss.

“It’s not something we were really looking forward to,” said 20-year-old Grint. “It was quite a strange thing to have to think about doing.”

But it doesn’t seem strange for fans because a lot appear to be excited about it. In a poll conducted by online ticket seller Fandango.com, 59 percent of fans said the on-screen kiss they most want to see is between Hermione and Ron.

Only 40 percent said they can’t wait to see the peck in “Half-Blood Prince” between Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, and Ginny Weasley, Ron’s sister in the film who is played by Bonnie Wright.

“I saw the film again a couple of nights ago at the premiere and ... my God, my lips are like the lips of a horse, kind of distending independently away from my face and trying to encompass the lower half of hers,” Radcliffe, 19, said.

“So I apologize for that,” he said.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” hits theaters on July 15, while part one of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is due out in late 2010 and part two is planned for release in summer 2011.